The Hall effect occurs generally in electrically conductive materials. Briefly, a current flowing at right angles to a magnetic field generates an electric field, and hence a voltage in a direction at right angles to both the current and magnetic field. Typically, Hall effect devices are similar to conventional MOS type devices with, however, additional contact areas transverse to the source to drain current path for deriving the Hall effect voltage. Hall effect devices are typically used to measure magnetic field intensities.
German Patent DE-OS No. 26 40 082 discloses a regulating circuit for a Hall element which makes it possible to provide temperature compensation for the Hall element across a relatively narrow temperature range.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a method and circuit for the temperature compensation of a Hall element across a relatively large temperature range, for instance from -50.degree. C. to +80.degree. C. Desirably, the temperature dependency of the Hall element sensitivity should be limited to approximately .+-.0.01 percent per degree C. It is a further object of the invention to linearize the sensitivity of the Hall element as a function of the supply current across a relatively large current range, for example from 0.1 to 10 milli-amperes.